


New Promises

by dying_rose



Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fear, Friendship, Sad Varian (Disney), Trauma, Varian Has Issues (Disney), Varian Redemption (Disney), Varian is baby
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:15:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27952178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dying_rose/pseuds/dying_rose
Summary: Varian and Rapunzel are in the Tunnels trying to stop the spread of the red rocks before Corona is overrun. While beneath the kingdom, they are separated and both have to face their deepest fears alone. While Rapunzel is haunted by the rift between her and Cass, Varian is haunted by his past mistakes and the guilt he has buried deep inside.Set in the season 3 episode 10 “Be Very Afraid.”Disclaimer: I do not own this show or it’s characters I’m in high school I don’t own sh*t.
Relationships: Cassandra & Rapunzel (Disney: Tangled), Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider & Varian, Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider/Rapunzel, Quirin & Varian (Disney), Rapunzel & Varian (Disney)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 43





	New Promises

🩸🌞🌒{V}

Suddenly, as the tunnnels were quaking and bits of rock fell from above, multiple red rocks started to shoot up from the ground. And before they could react a massive red rock wall went up between Rapunzel and Varian.  
“Rapunzel!”  
“Varian!!”  
In only a moment they’d been completely separated. Varian was trapped behind the rock wall in a dark corner of the tunnel, his only light the foreboding(faint) red glow of the rocks.  
“Rapunzel!”  
“Varian! Are you alright? Can you hear me?!”  
“Yes, yes I-I can hear you.” He sighed in relief hearing her voice.  
“What, what do we do?” He said after a moment. Feeling his chest tighten.  
Rapunzel spotted Varians bag on the ground. She opened it and pulled out the vial of the amber solution-the only one left. He must have dropped it when the rocks shot up,She thought.  
Varian started to panic a bit.  
“What are we gonna do I-I can’t get out of here it’s so dark!”  
“Varian it’s okay I’m right-“  
She cut of by the glimpse of a blue haired girl in black at the end of the tunnel. The figure echoed a laugh and took off down the corridor. Rapunzel stood silent staring at the spot. Was Cass here?  
“Rapunzel?” Varian didn’t know why she’d stopped talking.  
“I’ll come back for you okay? I’m gonna figure this out.”  
“Y-you’re leaving?”  
“I’ll be back I just, need to see...”  
She started walking in the direction of the blue and black menace.  
“Wait, don’t go! I need to get out of here, please!”  
But Rapunzel had already gone down the opposite tunnel, and couldn’t hear Varians pleading.  
“Rapunzel don’t leave me here alone!” He continued to shout pounding on the wall.  
“Please!” He put his head against the red wall and whispered, “You Promised..” 

Varian started to realize how alone he was.  
And he then remembered. He remembered because he could feel it creeping up as if suffocating him; what these rocks did to people. He remembered the fear.  
The chamber was quiet for a moment as Varian attempted to sort his thoughts. Suddenly from behind him a voice said,  
“Varian! help me!”  
He turned swiftly to see his father being encased in amber just like before.  
“Dad! No, this isn’t real.”  
He shouted running towards him nonetheless.  
The growing amber looked so real, and his fathers desperation even more so.  
“No no no, what do I do!?” He shouted putting his hands on his head in disarray.  
“Varian..” came the gruff voice of his Quirrin.  
He looked up at his fathers face.  
“What have you done?” He said in a low tone of disappointment.  
“Wha-what are you talking about?” He stammered in confusion.  
“How could this make me proud of you.” He said harshly.  
“How can I even call you my son?”  
A tear rolled down Varians cheek.  
“Dad I’m-“  
Before he could finish a pink cloud of gas exploded around him and made him cough. these visions were beginning to feel all too real.  
Looking down at his feet he saw a pink goop and realized he was caught in one of his own traps. But how?  
The alchemical gases cleared to reveal a boy in a welding mask, apron, and glowing vial staff standing in front of him.  
He was a bit shorter than Varian was.  
“he’s right you know.” Said the masked boy in a pitchy tone.  
He removed the mask to reveal the snickering face of his former self, two years ago.  
Varian only stood there looking at him confused at the false reflection before him.  
“You are a disappointment to all in corona.” He said with an evil chuckle.  
Varian struggled in the stiff trap.  
“All of this, is your fault.”he said pointing to a scene of the past battle between Varian and Rapunzel. Automotans were fighting soldiers and Varian was trying to destroy Rapunzel and his former friends. It was a memory that he’d tried to bury deep inside but now it stood before his eyes bringing it all back.  
“Stop it!”He shouted squeezing his eyes shut to block out the past.  
“Do you really think Rapunzel actually trusts you? After what you did? “The voice echoed in his head. “She knows deep down the true monster that you are.”  
“Enough! You don’t know anything! I’ve changed, things are different now. You aren’t real!”  
His former self chucked and walked up to his face.  
“Oh but I am. I still live inside of you. You can never change that.” He laughed again and walked through Varian, turning into a black mist.  
Only a moment after that he could hear from behind him a shouting guard.  
“Get him!” And a moment later his face was shoved into the wall hands behind his back.  
“Hey, get off me!” He shouted.  
“You’re going away for a long long time, traitor.”  
He heard the click of shackles from behind him and he was suddenly being dragged away by two guards under the arms down a stone hall.  
“Wait- No!! I can’t go back there, I can’t go back! please!”  
Varian fought and kicked but it was no use. He was thrown into a dark cell at the end of the hall.  
When he looked up, on the other side of the bars he could see Eugene, Cassandra, Lance, and Rapunzel. All of his friends.  
They all held a look of contempt looking down at him. He was on his knees with his hands chained to the wall. He tugged at them in frustration and consequently, fear.  
When he looked up he spotted his friends.  
“Guys!” He said in relief and distress.  
“I knew you’d come, I knew that you would trust in me. Help me out of here.” They all continued looking down at him in disgust and disappointment.  
“We could never trust you Varian.” Said Rapunzel in tone that was out of character. Hate resonated from her remark.  
“I don’t-I don’t understand?” He said looking into the faces of the others.  
A burning cold hate stared back so harshly that he couldn’t look anymore.  
He collapsed out of exhaustion but the chains pulled at his wrists making him slump on his knees with his hands twisted behind his back.  
“You’ll be in this prison for the rest of your life, hairstripe.” Said Eugene tauntingly, which he would never do, but Varian was so lost in the fear that he’d fallen to accept it.  
“And you’ll never see your father again.“ Cassandra cut in. “And there’s no one to blame but yourself.”  
They all began to walk away, leaving Varian in the dark cell, alone.  
“No! Wait!!” He shouted after them pulling on the chains.  
“Let me out of here, c-come back and let me out!” Hot tears began to pour from his eyes and he sunk back to his slumped position, his arms stretched out to his sides.  
He began to sob and shake, feeling a hurt that ran deeper than he’d care to realize.  
“Please..” he whispered in a hoarse voice.  
He slowly began to freeze up red from the fear and horror.  
“You promised me everything would be okay.” Before it had spread over him completely he cried out, “You promised!”

{earlier}

Rapunzel ran down the corridor after Cassandra.  
“Cass wait! We can talk about this!”  
She rounded a corner and before she could stop herself she nearly ran into the Figure. She fell backward onto the ground with a gasp.  
The girl stood above her with a demeaning smile.  
“Cass..” she said coming to her feet.  
Cassandra spotted the glowing vial in her hand and with a roar sprung for it.  
“What are you doing?!”she said dodging the crazed character.  
Cass didn’t answer her. she only kept trying to take it from her.  
After avoiding another lunge she stood back.  
“You’re not real, you’re not Cass. You don’t know what this is for; you’re just an illusion of my fear.”  
She turned to walk away and leave the imposter behind but it finally spoke,  
“Oh, is that what you think?”  
Rapunzel turned to meet her foe.  
“I will destroy corona Raps.” She uttered the old nickname in a mocking tone.  
“you and I?”  
She pulled out her sword.  
“We’re not friends, and we never were.” She brought the dark blade down on Rapunzel, who darted behind a red rock. The sword hit the rock and caused sparks to fly.  
“I will destroy you sun drop.” She said diabolically.  
After a few more of her sword swings Rapunzel had had it.  
“Enough! You aren’t Cass, you’re just in my head. I am taking control of my fear,  
And you have no power over me!”  
She squeezed her eyes shut and waited for another blow, but all that came was silence.  
She opened her eyes meekly and saw she was alone.  
It was when she felt the cavern shake that she realized the red rocks were still a threat, and she needed to deal with them.  
She started climbing the rocks to the top where a small sliver of a black rock jutted out of the wall. She struggled to reach it and slipped a few times. She pulled herself up with her hair to the rock, took a deep breath, and just before she could poor the serum on the rock a great tremor rattled the cave destabilizing Rapunzel causing her to drop the vial.  
“No!” She reached for it desperately, but relayed to lassoing it with her hair before it fell too far beyond her grasp.  
“Rapunzel wait!”  
She looked down to see Cass, once again; but this time far more sincere and personal.  
If you do that you won’t see me again! Don’t you see?”  
Rapunzel closed her eyes tightly. “It’s not her, it’s not her, it’s not Cass!”  
Without hesitation, She quickly poured the final drop in the vial onto the rock. “Raps, No!”  
She swung out of the way as the amber swiftly spread. She landed on the ground and the quaking chamber began to stabilize. And Cass was gone.

As the red rocks withdrew into the earth, she let out an exhausted sigh. As she did Eugene and Lance had shown up.  
“Sunshine!” He shouted to her with a smile on his face.  
“Eugene.” She made her way over to him, exhaustion in every step. “What are you doing down here?” She asked him as he embraced her lovingly.  
“You were taking longer than expected so I wanted to make sure everything was okay.”  
“You had us worried princess.” Said lance with an arm full of croissants and half of them in his mouth. “Im sure I did.” she said sarcastically.  
“Where’s Varian?” Said Eugene suddenly.  
Rapunzel gasped. “Varian...” she raced back to where the rocks had previously divided them and went into the dark corner of the cave.  
“Varian?” Whispered Rapunzel.  
In the corner, the small boy was curled up with his back facing them shivering and murmuring quietly. “Varian.” She got closer to him. She reached out touched his shoulder, and the moment she did he shot up with a gasp. “G-get away from me!” He hit her hand away from his shoulder and scooted backwards hitting into the wall of the cave.  
His eyes were lost and a gray mess of a storm. His dry tears stained his rosy cheeks.  
“Varian it’s okay, it’s all over now.” She said in a desperate calming tone.  
“Stay back!” He shouted putting out a shaking hand as they started toward him.  
“It’s us Varian, we’re your friends.” Said Lance.  
“No, n-no you hate me.”  
Eugene moved toward him swiftly but calmly. with a startled cry Varians arms shot up covering his face. He shut his eyes and shook even more. Eugene stepped back in shock not knowing what to do.  
Rapunzel looked at the trembling boy and slowly walked towards him and crouched down in front of him. She reached out and took his arms down from his face which startled him. “Varian, it’s me. You’re going to be okay.” He looked into her eyes still disoriented.  
“And I am never going to leave you alone again.” She dropped his hands and cupped his little face in her hands.  
“I Promise.”  
His eyes returned to their ice blue and tears began to pool in his eyes like raindrops.  
“Rapunzel?” He said huskily.  
A stray tear ran down her cheek.  
“I’ve got you.” She said opening her arms to him. He fell into her arms weakly and she hugged him tight.  
He pulled away and looked up at her.  
“I saw-I saw terrible things.” He said as Rapunzel wiped the tears from his cheeks.  
“It wasn’t real, none of it.” She said.  
“Yeah” said Eugene. “you don’t have to be afraid anymore.”  
Eugene crouched down beside him and offered his hand to pull him up.  
“I gotcha kid.” He said in a strong voice. Varian smiled up at Eugene.  
“Team awesome?” He said weakly.  
“Team awesome buddy.” He took his hand and pulled him to his feet. They had to give him a bit of support to walk out of there. he was still in shock.  
“So are you accepting any new members to team awesome by any chance?” Asked Lance.  
“Uh that’s kinda our thing, sorry buddy.” Eugene said to Lance.  
Varian chuckled as Lance fought for his position.  
And they argued the matter all the way back home to the castle.

**Author's Note:**

> I always felt that there was a deeper pain to Varian’s story that deserves to be appreciated, so this is what I think might have been going on in his mind throughout the series. Thanks for reading this, it’s my first post so I hope you like it!😁


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